Driving from Brownsville, TX to Belize

I will be moving to Belize from S. FL. in May or June'14. I'm weighing the options available concerning transportation. With QRP (Qualified Retirement Person) status, I can have my car transported w/ personal household goods w/o having to pay excise tax. The only problem with that is cost of flight for the 2 of us (and pet dog), plus flight from Miami only takes us to Belize City (we'll be living in Corozal), we'd be w/o transportation to get to our new home. This leads me to my other option: driving to Belize with final 1200 miles being thru Mexico. My question quite simply is: IS IT A GOOD IDEA TO MAKE THE DRIVE? WHERE SHOULD I PLAN TO STOP FOR THE EVENING? WHAT ROADS ARE RECOMMENDED--ASSUMING CROSSING INTO MEX AT BROWNSVILLE? HOW SAFE IS IT TO TRAVEL ALONG THE GULF SIDE OF MEXICO? Any other feedback is welcomed. RICK

Re: [dodgerday] Driving from Brownsville, TX to Belize

Well I would not drive it alone, but it is a good experience if one wishes to learn how to drive in a foreign country. There is lots of information about this drive on the WEB. Insurance is a must and no night driving and you should find it's an easy three day drive, that's just the actual driving I'm referring too.. It's a four lane road most of the way and it's best to stay out of Tampico, there is an easy bypass. Lots of gasoline stations, but as usual in Mexico watch the staff and make sure you count out your money when paying. We do this naturally as it lets them know your aware of whats happening with the transaction.

Police "Federalizes" have always been our major problem with the drive to Xcalak, Quintana Roo from the US boarder. Unfortunately we unexpectedly ended up with a lot of cash the last time we drove down and they took us to the tune of $1600:00 US. Gun to the window of the car and threats, but who knows if these individuals were actual police !!! They had blocked the road so we had to stop. That is why we will only fly in Mexico now. We rent a car and travel mostly around where our house is located and have found no further problems for the last five years", but as I now think about it, "Hell would freeze over before we would drive down again"

To put this information into some sort of a prospective we drove down each year to Quintana Roo for about twenty years with no problems at all, but things seem to change about five years ago. I think it's the luck of the draw !! Which ever way you chose to travel in Mexico we wish you well !!

Re: [JustAGigolo] Driving from Brownsville, TX to Belize

"Police "Federalizes" have always been our major problem with the drive to Xcalak, Quintana Roo from the US border. Unfortunately we unexpectedly ended up with a lot of cash the last time we drove down and they took us to the tune of $1600.00 US. Gun to the window of the car and threats, but who knows if these individuals were actual police !!!"

Fortunately there are no extortionists, goons, murderers & thugs posing as police and complicit prosecutors in the US.